Davanagere (Karnataka), March 31 Condemning the Congress government's decision to make Hindi a non-mandatory passing subject in Class 10 board exams, the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Tuesday that former Prime Ministers late Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had encouraged the promotion of Hindi.
Senior BJP leader and the Karnataka Leader of the Opposition (LoP), R. Ashoka, made the statement in this regard in Davanagere while addressing the media after releasing the party's manifesto for Davanagere South Assembly constituency.
Referring to the three-language formula in Karnataka, LoP Ashoka asked who introduced it and noted that Mahatma Gandhi had served as President of the Hindi Prachar Sabha for 30 years, while former Prime Ministers late Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had encouraged the promotion of Hindi.
"Those who protested the renaming of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are now silent when Hindi is said to be not compulsory," he remarked.
He said that it would have been better if the state government had clarified that Hindi was not compulsory at the beginning of the academic year rather than during examinations.
Earlier, LoP Ashoka alleged that the state government's decision has harmed the future of students.
He said the decision was not driven by love for Kannada but was purely political.
LoP Ashoka said the Karnataka Education Department had suddenly removed Hindi as a third language across schools in the state.
"This decision has been taken at a time when school students are writing their examinations. Lakhs of students have studied and prepared Hindi as a subject. This sudden move has created a major problem," he added.
The Congress government dubbing the move aimed at reducing academic pressure on SSLC students in the state, announced 'third language' in SSLC (class 10) examinations will henceforth be brought under a grading system.
Karnataka School Education and Literacy Minister, S. Madhu Bangarappa, said: "Until now, out of the total 625 marks, 100 marks were allotted to the third language. Going forward, there will be no pass or fail system for the third language. This means that marks obtained in the third language will not be counted towards the final result. Instead, students will be awarded grades such as A, B, C, or D."
He added that this rule will apply to all third languages offered in the school curriculum, including Hindi, Sanskrit, Tulu, Marathi, and Arabic.
An official order in this regard will be issued shortly.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has clarified the state government is not against children learning Hindi in schools across the state.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor